


Blackjack: Ardanwen

by EvilDime



Series: You're My Hero [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Letter for the King (TV)
Genre: Gen, Gucci: Of Course a Horse, Humor, screen adaptation bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23426605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilDime/pseuds/EvilDime
Summary: Blackjack playsGucci horseand discovers his fanboyish heart.
Series: You're My Hero [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685170
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Blackjack: Ardanwen

**Author's Note:**

> This is a new series based, like [Crossing Over](https://archiveofourown.org/series/240217), on certain parallels I see between two fandoms. In this case, though, only the characters of one fandom will have actual parts in each story, while the others remain books or movies that are merely talked about. So not true crossovers, sorry.

Blackjack was giving this Gucci thing a try and so far, he was loving it. His first taste of riding an expensive car had been when he touched down on the hood of the one in which Percy had shamefully failed to make out with his seer friend, and that had only been a brief contact; he assumed riding inside one would be a lot more fun. Then again, maybe not - he'd trust his own wings over some mortal-made Pan killer any day.

The walk-in pool though? Yeah, he could totally subscribe to that. Stretching his legs and floating weightlessly in the arms of Poseidon to cool off on this disgustingly hot late summer's day was priceless. He whinnied in joy.

Getting here had been fun, too.

"What is the meaning of this?" Rachel's father had bellowed when he spotted Blackjack behind Percy and Annabeth. Percy'd immediately taken a step back and signaled for Blackjack to stop, as well. Like he was stupid or something. He wasn't entering where he wasn't wanted. He left that to stupid hell hound puppies who really should know better. So, while Mrs. O'Leary forged ahead, unperturbed, to jump up and slobber at the excited mortal, Blackjack politely kept his distance.

Then Rachel came down the stairs, took in the situation at a glance and started beaming. Blackjack neighed in confusion. That wasn't a real smile at all. Rachel had never struck him as false before. Why this, now?

"Father," she said, exuding exaggerated gaiety from her every pore, "you already know my friends Percy and Annabeth and Percy's dog Mrs. O'Leary. Now, let me introduce you to Percy's other beloved friend, Blackjack."

Blackjack couldn't help a few startled, nervous side-steps at the compliment. Beloved friend, huh? That… did sound nice.

Rachel's dad clearly didn't think so, though. "Will you get down, you stupid mutt - ugh - get _off,_ I said…" Once Rachel freed him from Mrs. O'Leary's enthusiastic greeting, he straightened out his ruffled suit, pulled himself up to his full , somewhat impressive height - for a mortal - and angrily spat: "The dog was bad enough. But we are _not_ having a horse in the house, Rachel Elizabeth!"

Blackjack admired her cool when, rather than be intimidated by her progenitor's diatribe, she kept brightly smiling up at him. "But father, _you_ are the one who want me to go to finishing school."

Perplexed, the man let his shoulders slump. "Yes. So?"

"So if I'm ever to become a successful socialite, you need to let me experience the latest trends and get comfortable with them, don't you agree?"

"I suppose so," he admitted, clearly still puzzled by this line of reasoning. "But what does that have to do with…?" He gestured at Blackjack.

Rachel thrust a smartphone under  Mr. Dare's nose. "Here, father, for your viewing pleasure: The latest Gucci campaign,  [Of Course a Horse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jkkaIO553U) ." She clicked on a button and a kind of comfy, old-timey tune started playing.  Blackjack couldn't get a look at the screen from his angle, so instead he watched Mister Dare. The man's eyes first widened, then flicked around the screen as though trying to find a label proclaiming what he was seeing a hoax… and finally closed in defeat. 

"Oh very well, have it your way," he finally conceded and shuffled back into the house, every inch of his posture yelling defeat.

The moment her father had left the entrance hall, Rachel's icicle-sharp smile thawed into something warmer and more real. "Well, come on in, guys."

The moment they were up in her room, everyone was on Rachel's case about that video, so they watched it together. Blackjack was enchanted. His eyes flicked out the room's window to the roof terrace pool.

_Boss, do you think Rachel would mind if I…?_

Percy snorted. "I think she'd love that." Turning toward the girl in question, he translated: "Rachel, is it alright for Blackjack to take a spin in your pool?" Blackjack snorted. Trust his boss to build a casino pun into the conversation and not even notice.

Rachel, true to form, smiled a large, malicious smile at Blackjack and pronounced: "Please, be my guest!"

So while the humans debated about what to do in this cursedly hot weather that did not, under any circumstance, involve moving or leaving the safe radius of the air conditioning, Blackjack romped off to take a lovely, relaxing swim. Apollo must be driving drunk again, Blackjack thought as he made his way across the burning hot stones of the rooftop terrace. No way was this abysmal heat the result of a safe driving height.

With a relieved snort, Blackjack entered the cool water of the pool. Pure bliss! His hooves tread water while his wings fanned out to float on the surface. He felt more weightless than he ever did in the air. Blackjack understood why the hippocampi claimed to be the true horses; after all, weren't they all creatures of Poseidon, the god of the sea? Snorting again, Blackjack shook the maudlin thought from his head. As if he'd ever willingly trade in the freedom of moving through the air!

When Blackjack emerged from the pool, he fluffed out his wings and shook himself all over. Water flew in large splashes to all sides.

"Ack."

Whipping his head around at the unexpected sound, Blackjack stared guiltily at a thoroughly drenched Mr. Dare. The man had just changed into a different suit, too. Also, he probably had no idea how a horse shaking himself could result in so much flying water - the wings, after all, must be invisible to him. Just like he hadn't been questioning Mrs. O'Leary's unusually large rump. Blackjack neighed to himself in amusement.

"Think this is funny?" the man growled, surprisingly understanding Blackjack's amused neighing exactly for what it was. Blackjack figured the man must have a very low self-confidence if being laughed at was his first assumption at hearing a new sound.

On impulse, Blackjack raised a wing and gave the man's wet hair a few soothing strokes with his nearly-dry wing feathers. Mr. Dare made a confused sound somewhere between "Harumph" and "Meep" and wandered back inside the mansion with a lost look on his face.

Well... that was interesting.

By the time Blackjack returned to Rachel's room - or to her window, anyway; being a polite pegasus, he opted to stay outside until he was done dripping water everywhere -, the three bipeds were debating hotly over a TV show while Mrs. O'Leary blissfully snoozed on the cool floor.

"...not even _try_ to get the plot right! I understand that you need to build in several layers to spin this into a multi-season series. The supernatural elements and the secrets about the boy's ancestry are always a nice plot device - sorry, Percy, not saying this to offend you - but why did they have to go and change up the final test? It's supposed to be only the one who messes up that fails, not all of them. Why would they do that?"

"I guess it's to make everyone hate Tiuri more," Annabeth responded. "Though if that was the plan, why did they introduce Ristridin so early, and make him aware of Tiuri's shortcomings as a knight? At this rate, they'll have a hell of a time making Ristridin believe in Tiuri's guilt when the time comes, and I swear to Athena, if they ruin the near-execution - the most exciting scene of the entire book! -"

Blackjack noticed his boss quietly staying out of the debate. Likely because Percy had read very few books, if any. Dyslexia kind of sucked, or so he'd heard. Annabeth was the exception here, not the rule - she'd likely gotten as many audio books as humanly possible, being the knowledge-seeking kind thanks to her mother. Anyone would understand that Percy, being a _normal_ demigod, hadn't done the same. Still a wise tactic not to point that out though, Blackjack thought. Ten points to the boss.

Of course, that was the exact moment Percy decided to open his mouth and ruin it.

"So maybe the series is not about the book but more _inspired by?_ I hear that's quite a common practice, these days." Alright, so he hadn't ruined it. Yet. Really would have been safer to keep his mouth shut, though.

Because even so, the females pounced on the perceived more vulnerable member of their pack. Humans could be such vicious creatures. "Really? So how would you feel if, say, someone made a movie about _your_ adventures and butchered them?" Rachel demanded.

Annabeth grinned. "Just imagine: you are enamored of a girl since age twelve, maybe me, maybe Clarisse -" Percy, who'd started to blush, quickly blanched instead - "Grover is reduced to being the funny sidekick -"

"So are you, actually," Rachel adds, meanly. "Though, _I_ probably wouldn't even show up." She sighs. "Foreknowledge is overrated if you want your characters to run blindly into every trap."

"The actual dangers, like _flying_ being a bad idea if you're on Zeus's bad side aren't even mentioned -"

"How could you leave that out?" Percy asked, puzzled. "That's, like, the root of so many of my problems. At least, before I met you," he added, noticing Blackjack standing at the window.

Blackjack snorted his approval. A little curious, he extended a mostly-dry wing to pet Percy's hair. The demigod just reacted with irritation, though, and pushed the feathers aside. Mr. Dare's curious reaction was probably just a result of the Mist, then, and not caused by some awesome soothing power inherent in his wing feathers. Blackjack pouted.

"You see," Annabeth said to the boss, in the babying tone used by females across all species to talk down to presumably less worldly menfolk, "an _inspired by_ doesn't need to have a plot that makes sense. Just look at the sad anime parody of the _Tales of Earthsea -"_

" - or the butchering of the _Divergent_ series -"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Percy grumbled, though Blackjack was fairly certain he didn't. Fat chance his boss had read any of those books, either.

" - or this thrice-cursed adaptation of the _Letter for the King,"_ Annabeth finished, unwilling to come off her soapbox just yet.

Reminded, Blackjack turned his attention to the TV. Nobody else did. Even if the movie was a bad adaptation, he thought the landscape was still really lovely. And wasn't that a nice horse there who -

Blackjack's breath stopped. His nostrils widened. A tiny, wondering whinny escaped his mouth.

 _This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen_ , he breathed quietly.

The girls were bickering again - not that they'd have understood him anyway -, but Percy happened to hear him. "What's that, Blackjack?" he asked distractedly.

 _That horse,_ Blackjack said, not even trying to keep the awe out of his voice.

Percy turned his head just in time to see the beautiful dark horse impacting the river. "Huh?"

 _He just jumped. Off a cliff,_ Blackjack explained. _**Without wings!**_ _That guy is tough as nails. He was obviously born to fly, and he's elegant to boot and just so coool…._ He trailed off, whinnying in dismay at recognizing his own fanboyish tone. _Crap, boss. I'm developing a serious stallion-crush here. Save me!_

Percy, the big traitor, just laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> ETA: <rant>...And then I finished watching the series, realized that my favorite scene isn't even in it and that they gave the thing a stupid ending that looks like they were gearing up to make several more seasons, but then abruptly ran out of money. Gah! </rant>  
> Seriously, folks: If you liked anything about the Letter for the King series, go read the book because it's worlds apart and way above the series when it comes to plot, character development and storytelling. (It's written in the 60s, though, so it has no token gay couple. But maybe that's a good thing, considering.)


End file.
